Page 43 of Last Christmas in London

‘After my mum passed away, I went to live with Megan and her family. I was still at school, but we met when we were at nursery, so I’ve known her my whole life. At least, as far back as I can remember.’

Simon nodded, smiling at what sounded like a sweet story once you’ve removed all the chemotherapy, funerals, and therapy that preceded and followed the initial move.

‘And then we met Josh at university and we all lived together while we studied, or rather Megan studied. Josh and I weren’t the best students,’ I admitted with a laugh.

‘Eight years ago.’ Megan shuddered. ‘How can it have been so long since we graduated?’ She went back to looking at her phone to check her WhatsApp for messages from her husband.

I shrugged and played with the beer mats, just as Simon had been doing. ‘It probably feels like a long time ago for you since you’ve actually lived a life since then. I’ve just travelled.’

‘Travelled?’ Simon repeated. ‘I don’t actually think I’ve asked you yet, what you do?’

‘Oh, I’m…’ I began but Josh interjected, fanning himself with the cocktail menu as he returned from the bar.

‘She was a fabulous personal assistant to a world-famous celebrity, but now she’s moving to Toronto to become a world-famous TV producer in her own right.’ He took his seat with a balletic flourish.

My eyes flickered to Simon. He hadn’t known about the move to Toronto and since this friendship – he had called me his friend after all – was so new, it seemed like a bit of news that he might seem a bit surprised by.

If he was, though, he hid it very well.

‘Wow…’ he said after a moment, looking from Josh to me. ‘That sounds like a really exciting career.’

‘It’s not bad.’ I shrugged. ‘I get to travel a lot, which is why I haven’t been able to do most of the things on our list.’ I was really wishing my negroni was here so I could take a sip of it to fill the space I suddenly felt between me and Simon.

‘You should check out her TikTok!’ Josh said, suddenly pulling his phone out of his back pocket.

‘No!’ I said, lurching across the table to get it. But he was too quick, and I heard my voice suddenly reverberating around our booth. Simon leaned over Josh’s shoulder to watch, an intrigued smile on his face.

Josh opened the app to a video of me at one of Pim’s guest appearances in New York. I had walked past Radio City at 2.00 a.m., after a night shoot in Central Park, and had chosen to dance and record a voice-over later about the event. It was a good night.

But witnessing Simon watching it made my stomach curl into a knot.

‘Wow, that’s so cool,’ Simon muttered quietly, but sincerely.

‘Stop it,’ I groaned, shrinking into the table.

‘Check this one out.’ Josh flicked to another video. One of the first that had received over 800,000 views. It was when Pim had a photoshoot for a celebrity show set in the jungle and I had to travel with her on a private yacht to the set along the coast of Australia. I had never seen such blue water in my life. You could see the stingrays swimming beneath the boat as if you were looking at a lit rockpool in the London Aquarium.

‘Geez, that’s awesome,’ Simon said, taking the phone and flicking through a few more of the generic videos of me hanging out in hotel rooms while Pim got her hair done for the Emmys. Or on the back of a TV set as Pim did an interview on daytime TV.

I reached for the phone, but Josh pushed my arms away.

‘Our Evie is a starlet,’ he said, glowing with pride, while Megan made an ‘uh-huh’ noise, still looking at her phone.

‘And you’re leaving all this behind?’ Simon said, pointing to the screen. I shrugged.

‘It’s not all glamour and greasepaint. Most of the time it’s long hours, non-stop days, and so much effort.’ I sighed as if exhausted, which in truth I was. ‘And after eight years I could do with a bit of stability.’

Simon nodded again, doing one last final flick over my TikToks before handing Josh his phone back.

‘What about you?’ I found myself asking. ‘Is busking your future?’

Simon’s lip twitched knowingly. ‘Well, it wasn’t always the plan, if that’s what you really want to know.’

‘Oh, she does.’ Josh smirked. ‘Look at her! She’s digging for details into your past, darling.’ He pointed it out as if Simon didn’t already know, and I rolled my eyes. Josh was not adept at subtlety.

‘My past,’ Simon repeated, nodding as if preparing himself.

‘I don’t know anything about you,’ I pointed out. ‘And I’ve just told you an awful lot about me. Or, actually, Josh did.’